Research supports the notion that self-esteem is shaped by early social processes and plays an important role in children's developmental outcomes. Because self-esteem is not easily studied in early childhood and retrospective reports are fraught with reliability problems, little attention has been given to the forces that shape this aspect of the self- system, particularly during the transition to toddlerhood when its development is most salient. The basis for self-esteem is two-fold: a sense of competency and the experience of being a "cause", also referred to as a sense of control. Although self-esteem is considered one of the most pervasive forces shaping child adaptation and psychopathology, a sense of control or being a cause is the aspect that is least understood. Further, the nature and quality of mother-child interactions involved in the development of self-esteem are not well understood. This 5-year project has three specific aims: 1) to describe the nature and quality of mother- child control-salient interactions during the transition to toddlerhood; 2) to examine the relationship of individual maternal and child characteristics to the quality of mother-child control-salient interactions; and 3) to examine the relationship between the quality of mother-child interactional behavior and the child's socio-behavioral competence and sense of control. Mother-infant dyads will be recruited in the first 9 months of the infant's life. Individual characteristics of mother (depression, parenting control orientation, and conceptualization of child development) and child (temperament and developmental competencies) will be assessed during intake into the study, at the child's age of 9 months. Subsequent assessments and laboratory observations of mother-child dyads will occur at the child's age of 12, 24, and 36 months. Laboratory observations will include three control-salient interactions: limit-setting, play, and conversation. The child's behavioral and social competence and causal self-evaluations will be taken as indicators of the child's developing self-esteem. The project seeks to address knowledge gaps that hamper pediatric and public health nurses in carrying out their charge to prevent child psychopathology through the promotion of optimal parenting practices and through intervention with maladaptive mother-child interaction. The results will serve as a basis for future study of the child's developing self-esteem and mental health outcomes at subsequent periods when self-report measures may be obtained and analyzed in relation to earlier mother-child interactions and child socio-behavioral adaptation.